


10 - An unusual Recipe

by Kat_Lovegood



Series: Professor Layton Advent Calendar [10]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Advent Calendar, Advent Calendar Drabble, Gen, Post-Unwound Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21738574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_Lovegood/pseuds/Kat_Lovegood
Summary: Flora bakes Christmas cookies. They turn out... surprisingly well with a little help from Lucille.
Relationships: Hershel Layton & Flora Reinhold, Lucille Layton/Roland Layton
Series: Professor Layton Advent Calendar [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557985
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	10 - An unusual Recipe

„Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...“

The radio in the kitchen was playing and Flora was softly humming to the tune of one of her favourite Christmas songs as she carefully placed her Pepperoni-Cookies on the baking tray. It was almost two p.m. - the Professor‘s parents would arrive at their house soon! They would be coming in from the outer districts of the British capital to celebrate Christmas with their son – and their granddaughter, as Roland and Lucille Layton had called her the last time she and the Professor had been over at their house for tea.

It was nice to feel like a real part of the Professor‘s family, and the Layton‘s definitely gave her the feeling that Flora was just that – sometimes more than the Professor did. Her guardian was still at the university, he had to give the last lecture before Christmas break – and it was a tradition at Gressenheller to do something special for that lecture. Though the Professor had, of course, forgotten all about it as he had to help Scotland Yard with yet another difficult case. Flora secretly felt grateful to be able to fill the position as the Professor‘s assistant – or maybe even apprentice? But after a while, she had noticed that she would only ever be number two. She wasn‘t Luke, or Emmy for that matter, after all.

But even so, Flora had put a lot of effort into helping the Professor to prepare for his lecture last minute, decorating pieces of cardboard with Hieroglyphics that, once they were correctly translated, revealed themselves to be Christmas Cards and painting a board with clues for deciphering them. She had been actually rather proud of her work. And now she would prepare everything for their family Christmas dinner in two days! Flora had already made a detailed shopping list with all the ingredients she needed, but she had waited until now to actually buy most of them, as fresh food was always the best. Her recipes were carefully pinned down on the cupboard doors in the professor‘s rather small kitchen, which he apparently rarely used himself. Flora had a feeling that he only ever made breakfast for himself, as he usually ate lunch in the university cafeteria and went out for dinner, or had sandwiches in his office. If he remembered to eat anything at all, that was.

Just as Flora had finished with decorating the cookies and put them into the oven, the bell rang. Flora quickly untied her red apron, tossing it over the back of a chair, as she rushed down the floor to answer the door.

„Ah, there you are, my dear! It‘s so good to see you, Flora!“, Lucille said as soon as Flora had opened the door. The girl greeted the older woman with a warm hug.

„It‘s very nice to see you, too!“, she chirped, before turning her attention towards the rather bulky man with the large, white beard in the back. Roland Layton was wearing a red jumper today, suspiciously reminding Flora of Santa Claus himself.

„And you as well!“, she said as she hugged him.

„Hello, Flora! It‘s been way too long since we all saw each other, don‘t you agree? And I see you have been baking! Are the cookies ready to try?“, he asked her with a calm smile, pointing to some residue of flour on Flora‘s dress.

„Almost! I just put the first tray into the oven, they will be done in a minute! But come in, it‘s freezing outside. I will just quickly put the kettle on, please go on into the living room“,

Flora answered before she rushed up the stairs again, putting the kettle onto the stove and plates and cups on a tray, as well as milk and sugar. She prepared the tea like an expert – one rather became one when living together with Professor Layton – and finally put some of the freshly baked cookies down on a plate to take back downstairs with her.

„Oh, that‘s a rather exotic smell… What kind of a treat have you there for us, Flora?“, Roland asked as she came into the living room, placing the tray down on the coffee table.

„It‘s my secret recipe! Homemade Pepperoni-Cookies!“, Flora smiled.

Lucille gave her a rather questioning look upon that answer, but both she and her husband decided to try the baked goods out before judging them. Sadly they tasted just as expected – absolutely awful.

„They are not very good, are they?“, Flora asked, disappointment written all over her face.

She was used to people not appreciating her food. Flora often wondered what she did wrong, but while both Luke and the Professor had seemed clearly disgusted by Flora‘s attempts at cooking, neither of them had been brave enough to actually say anything about it. They had just stared at her creations in horror, secretly disposed of them and then smiled at her, telling her how delicious her sandwiches tasted. Sometimes the professor‘s gentlemanly behaviour was very unhelpful, Flora thought. If they could only tell her what was wrong with her food!

Luckily for the young girl, the Professor‘s mother had fewer qualms about „criticizing a lady“, as he always put it.

„Flora, my dear, I don‘t want to insult you, but I‘m afraid Pepperoni just don‘t belong into Christmas Cookies! The dough is all good, but why not put chocolate chips inside instead?“

„I thought I would make something special for you…“, Flora answered. „The people in my village all liked my baking“, she added.

„Well, that must be some peculiar people“, Roland commented.

He was right, of course. They were not even real people, in fact. Maybe that‘s why they had a taste for unusual food – they weren‘t exactly human. Flora decided to write to Bruno about that, as she was rather curious about the topic. She smiled and nodded towards Roland.

„Yes, I believe you could say they are!“

„Flora, you said you had just put in the first tray when we came – so surely you must have some dough left over? I‘m sure the two of us could make some nice, new cookies out of it. I think I even brought some chocolate with me if you don‘t have any. An old lady must always be prepared, you know? And I would really like to help you with the baking, if you don‘t mind, of course. But Christmas baking always has something so nice and cosy about it, don‘t you think?“, Lucille said.

„I wouldn‘t mind your help at all!“, Flora gladly accepted the offer.

And when Professor Layton returned from his lecture a little while later, he found his parents and his protege sitting in the living room, eating the best Christmas Cookies all of them had tasted in a long time.


End file.
